Photo Credit: François Gaudet
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Brief Biography
Robert Finley was born in Halifax in 1957. He completed his PhD on contemporary poetry at the University of Toronto. For a number of years, he taught in France before returning to Nova Scotia. Robert is currently adjunct professor of English at l'Université Ste-Anne on the Baie Ste. Marie in south-western Nova Scotia and associate professor of English at Memorial University in Newfoundland.
Selected List of Publications
- A Ragged Pen: Essays on Poetry and Memory. (Robert Finley, Patrick Friesen, Aislinn Hunter, Anne Simpson, Jan Zwicky.) Kentville: Gaspereau Press, 2006.
- The Accidental Indies. McGill-Queen's UP, 2000. ISBN 0-7735-2006-6.
- Las indias accidentales. Traducción de José Antonia Bravo. Barcelona: Ediciones Barataria, 2002.
- Les Indes accidentalles. Traduit de l'anglais par Ivan Steenhout. Montréal: Les Éditions de la Pleine Lune, 2004.
- "This is a beautiful book - a kind of magic, shamanic flight to find the inner meaning of Columbus. It is a work of literary power and rare imagination - a discovery of the great discoverer [...] It is a rare combination of literature and history in a form that is daring and inspiring." - Hugh Brody, author of Maps & Dreams.
- "The Accidental Indies reads with a lyricism and intelligence that is hard to match in other modern fictions. It could be classified along with Michael Ondaatje's Coming through Slaughter and Anne Michaels' Fugitive Pieces." - Carolyn Smart
- "The Accidental Indies is a gem - it is boldly imagined and splendidly written." - John Casey, author of the National Book Award winner, Spartina.
- "I was utterly enchanted by The Accidental Indies. With humour, inventiveness and an exquisite gift for words, Robert Finley has rescued Columbus's adventures from the excesses of hagiography and the disparagements of outrage, and restored them, once again, to the realm of myth from whence they sprung." - Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading and The Dictionary of Imaginary Places.
- "Exquisitely written. The Accidental Indies is a brilliant and utterly original work of literature." - Eric Ormsby
Awards for The Accidental Indies
Winner
Cunard First Book Award, Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia (2001)
AIGA Design Prize, American Institute of Graphic Arts (2001)
AAUP Book Jacket and Journal Award
Association of American University Presses (2001)
Governor General's Award
Literary Award in the category of French Translation (2004)
AIGA Design Prize, American Institute of Graphic Arts (2001)
AAUP Book Jacket and Journal Award
Association of American University Presses (2001)
Governor General's Award
Literary Award in the category of French Translation (2004)
Shortlisted
Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia (2001)
